Clock chime intensity control

ABSTRACT

The hammers for striking chime rods are supported for swinging by pivoted hammer stem supporting blocks. Pawls of rotary wheels engage heels projecting from such pivoted blocks to swing the hammers upward, and then release the hammers for falling to strike the chime rods. Falling of the hammers is arrested by toes of the supporting blocks engaging stop fingers. Rotary cams swing such stop fingers for engagement by the rotary block toes sooner to restrict the falling movement of the hammers for striking the chime rods lightly to sound softly, or to permit the hammers to fall farther for striking the chime rods firmly to sound loudly.

United States Patent 1191 Nofziger Dec. 11, 1973 4] CLOCK CIIIME INTENSITY CONTROL 3,251,182 5/1966 Marble 116 149 x Primary Examiner-Louis J. Capozi Att0rneyRObert W. Beach [57] ABSTRACT The hammers for striking chime rods are supported for swinging by pivoted hammer stem supporting blocks. Pawls of rotary wheels engage heels projecting from such pivoted blocks to swing the hammers upward, and then release the hammers for falling to strike the chime rods. Falling of thehammers is arrested by toes of the supporting blocks engaging stop fingers. Rotary cams swing such stop fingers for engagement by the rotary block toes sooner to restrict the falling movement of the hammers for striking the chime rods lightly to sound softly, or to permit the hammers to fall farther for striking the chime rods firmly to sound loudly.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures CLOCK CHIME INTENSITY CONTROL A particular object of the invention is to provide a construction for varying the intensity of the sound of chimes in a standard clock construction with minimum addition to or alteration of such construction.

A further object is to provide a construction for varying chime sound intensity, which is of simple and economical construction and which can be installed quickly and easily.

Another object is to provide an arrangement by which the intensity of sound of clock chimescan be altered conveniently and quickly.

FIG. 1 is and elevation of clock chime mechanism to which the present invention is applied having parts broken away, and FIG. 2 is an elevation of such mechanism viewed from line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of a portion of the structure shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a similar view showing parts in different positions of adjustment. v 7

Conventional clock chimes include several chime rods 1 arranged in a row in positions to be struck by respective hammers 2. Such hammers are carried by limber stems 3 projecting from pivoted stem-mounted blocks 4 mounted on a common shaft 4 for rotation. Heels 5 project upward from such blocks for engagement by pawls 6 projecting radially from the periphery of program wheels 7 mounted on a shaft 8. Such shaft is rotated by a driven gear 9 meshing with a drive gear 10 of the chime mechanism. 7

The program wheels 7 are arranged on shaft 8 so that the pawls 6 of the several wheels are offset circumferentially to engage the heels 5 of the blocks 4 in a sequence programmed so that the hammers 2 will strike their respective chime rods 1 to play the chime tune. As each program wheel 7 is turned so that its pawl 6 releases the heel 5 of its hammer, a tension striking spring 11 connected to the block 4 will rotate it in a direction to swing its hammer toward its chime rod.

Swinging of a hammer 2 toward its chime rod 1 will be arrested by engagement of the toe 12 of pivoted block 4 with a leaf spring stop finger l3 projecting from a common strip or bar 14, which is secured to a rod 15. The chime mechanism described above is conventional and representative of various types of chime mechanism to which the present invention can be applied.

In order to produce an effective chime sound, each hammer 2 must strike its chime rod 1, and then be withdrawn from the chime rod. Consequently, the stem 3 carrying the hammer must be resilient, and the position of rest assumed by the block 4, the stem 3 and the hammer 2, when the swing limit toe 12 is in engagement with the stop 13, must be such that the hammer 2 is not in contact with the chime rod 1. On the contrary, the hammer assumes the position in contact with the chime rod, as it is shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, only at the instant that the hammer is striking the chime rod, and prior to the hammer being retracted from the chime rod by the resilience of the stem 3.

The loudness of the sound produced by the chime rod depends upon the velocity of the hammer at the time it strikes the chime rod. If movement of the supporting block has been stopped just before the hammer 2 strikes the rod 1, the stem 3 will be deflected only slightly to retard the hammer and the sound produced by the struck chime rod will be loud. On the contrary, if rotation of block 4 has been arrested sooner, reducing the throw of the stem 3, such stem must bend a much greater amount before the hammer can strike the rod 1. Such bending reduces the velocity of the hammer 2 so that it will tap the chime rod 1 lightly and produce a comparatively soft sound.

Consequently, the intensity of sound produced by a hammer 2 striking a chime rod 1 will depend on the degree of deflection of the stem 3 required after rotation of block 4 has been arrested in order for the hammer 2 to reach the chime rod. The intensity of sound can, therefore, be regulated by altering the limiting position to which block 4 is permitted to be rotated by gravity and the force of spring 11 after the heel 5 has escaped from pawl 6 as its program wheel 7 is rotated.

The present invention enables the position of the stop fingers l3 engageable by the swing limit toes 12 of the blocks 4 to be altered for varying the amounts which the blocks 4 can rotate after their heels 5 have been released by their pawls 6. The fingers 13 project in cantilever fashion from the mounting bar 14, and are resilient and formed so that their free end portions bear against a finger-positioning rod 16. This rod extends parallel to the bar 14, as shown in FIG. 2.

In order to enable the fingers 13 to be deflected into different stop positions, the finger-positioning rod 16 is made of cam cross section, and has stub shafts or pivots 17 projecting from its opposite sides mounted for rotation of such rod. While the cam cross section of the rod could be shaped to provide a larger number of stop positions for the fingers 13, and, consequently, rotative limiting positions for the block 4, the cross-sectional shape of the rods, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, provides for two stop positions of the fingers 13.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the finger-positioning cam rod is of cylindrical shape, except for one side being flattened. Such rod can be rotated between a position in which an arcuate portion of the rod periphery is engaged with the fingers 13, as shown in FIG. 3, and a position in which the flat side of such rod is engaged by the fingers, as shown in FIG. 4. Such rotation of the rod can be effected by swinging the chime intensity adjusting handle 18, which is secured to one of the stub shafts 17 of such rod.

In both FIGS. 3 and 4, the hammer-mounting block 4 and stem 3 are shown in broken lines in the rotative position to which they are swung by engagement of the program wheel pawl 6 with wheel 5 immediately prior to escape of the heel from the pawl. In both instances, the block and stem are shown in full lines in their limiting positions in which the swing limit toe 12 has been arrested by engagement with its stop finger 13. Because of the adjustment of the position of such stop finger by rotation of finger-positioning rod 16, effected by swinging handle 18, the block 4 and stem 3 have moved through a smaller angle A, in the case of FIG. 3, and the larger angle B, in the case of FIG. 4.

Because swinging of the hammer 2 has been arrested earlier in the case of FIG. 3, its stem 3 must be deflected farther before the hammer 2 strikes the chime rod 1 than when the stop finger 3 is adjusted to the position of FIG. 4. Consequently, when the stop finger is in the position of FIG. 3, the hammer will tap the chime rod more lightly and produce a softer sound than when the stop finger is adjusted to the position of FIG. 4. Placing the lever 18 in the broken-line position shown in FIG. 3 will therefore result in the chimes sounding softly, whereas movement of the lever to the brokenline position shown in FIG. 4 will result in the chimes sounding comparatively loudly.

I claim:

1. Intensity controllable striking mechanism for clock chime rods, comprising hammers for striking the clock chime rods, limber stems carrying said hammers, respectively, means for swinging said stern away from the clock chime rods and releasing them to enable said hammers to fall by gravity toward the clock chime rods to strike the clock chime rods, stop means for arresting movement toward the clock chime rods of portions of said stems remote from said hammers, and means for adjusting said stop means to arrest movement of portions of said stems remote from said hammers in different limiting positions to require correspondingly different degrees of flexure of said limber stems for said hammers to strike the clock chime rods.

2. The mechanism defined in claim 1 and turnable stem-mounting means mounting the stems, the stop means including a cantilever leaf having one end portion fixedly mounted and its other end portion movably supported, the intermediate portion of said leaf between said end portions being engageable by said turnable stem-mounting means, and the means for adjusting the stop means including means for supporting said other end portion of said leaf in different selected positions.

253 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,777,701 Dated December 11, 1973 Inventor(s) Dale Nofziger It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

- I 1 Column 3, line 7, change "stem" to -stems- Column 4, line 4, insert a comma after "1".

Signed and sealed this 18th day of June 1971 1..

QSEAL} Attest: I

mum) Mmwrcmmm; I c. MARSHALL 1mm Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents @753?" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION;

Patent No. 3 777 Q 701 Dated December 11 1973 Inventor(s) Dale Nofziger It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

' I 'l Column 3, line 7, change "stem" to -stems- Column 4, line 4, insert a comma after "1"'. Q

Signed and sealed this 18th day of June 1971;",

(SEAL) Attest: mwmw mmwrcrmmm. c. MARSHALL-mun- Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. Intensity controllable striking mechanism for clock chime rods, comprising hammers for striking the clock chime rods, limber stems carrying said hammers, respectively, means for swinging said stem away from the clock chime rods and releasing them to enable said hammers to fall by gravity toward the clock chime rods to strike the clock chime rods, stop means for arresting movement toward the clock chime rods of portions of said stems remote from said hammers, and means for adjusting said stop means to arrest movement of portions of said stems remote from said hammers in different limiting positions to require correspondingly different degrees of flexure of said limber stems for said hammers to strike the clock chime rods.
 2. The mechanism defined in claim 1 and turnable stem-mounting means mounting the stems, the stop means including a cantilever leaf having one end portion fixedly mounted and its other end portion movably supported, the intermediate portion of said leaf between said end portions being engageable by said turnable stem-mounting means, and the means for adjusting the stop means including means for supporting said other end portion of said leaf in different selected positions. 